Nursing overseas – PNG

Lucy Kippist

Working in an under-resourced clinic in Papua New Guinea made Kylee St George realise she had made the right choice in pursuing a nursing career.

There was never enough medicine and sometimes the electricity would shut off and the water would run out.

“People would die from relatively manageable diseases,” says St George of her 10 months in Alotau in the Milne Bay Province on the east coast of Papua New Guinea.

St George volunteered as a nurse educator based at the St Barnabas School of Nursing.

Her role included being a lecturer to undergraduate nursing students and a clinical supervisor for the nursing students in a provincial hospital.

St George also established a clinical teaching laboratory that consisted of computers for electronic resources.

“I felt very privileged to have been part of a team that achieved such an amazing result.

“The resources meant that we had students going to the hospital and re-educating the nurses about best practice,” she said.

St George always knew she wanted to focus on development work but was unsure of the best path to take.

“I was confused about the right `kind’ of work to do. I did some research and found that unequivocally health was key to development work,” she said.

“I did regular Google searches on projects happening at UNICIEF and Doctors Without Borders.

“I was attracted to grassroots health care.”

Originally from Brisbane, St George first studied for a Bachelor of Arts, Political Science and International Studies at The University of Queensland.

After doing her online research and deciding health care was the key she then completed a Bachelor of Nursing at Queensland University of Technology.

She then spent two years nursing in the Northern Territory.

“Nursing in the Northern Territory was unique,” she said.

“There are a lot of different health issues there, particularly indigenous health issues.

“There were also a number of every-day cultural and communication issues to face.”

St George gained the chance to work in PNG through Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development.

“One of my best friends had done the AYAD program and I went to visit her in Vietnam. I waited for a position to come up that I felt I was best suited,” St George said.

“(When the Altoa project came up) I really believed in what they were trying to do there and the focus on education and capacity-building.”

The AYAD program was started in 1998 to “strengthen mutual understanding between Australia and the countries of the Asia Pacific region” .

The AYAD Program is fully funded by AusAID, the Australian Government agency responsible for managing Australia’s overseas aid program.

St George is one of the workers featured in an upcoming TV documentary on the Ten Network.

Success story
Name: Kylee St George
Occupation: Nurse
Success as: Volunteer nurse educator
Location: Alotau, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
Works for: Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development
More info: www.ayad.com.au